befriend wrote:is repeating buddho, buddho... a form of concentration practice, vipassana or both?

If you consider right concentration as jhana, the right answer might be none.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

Are you saying that you don't believe in the efficacy of the practice?

I have tried it and the only relevant result that I got once is that the mind started perceiving a bright white light and it sharpened the awareness quite a bit, it was not effective for me. Bhante Vimalaramsi goes further declaring it to be "wishful thinking". I think that the chances of it leading to jhana are very slim.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

Even if the flesh & blood in my body dry up, leaving just the skin, tendons, & bones, I will use all my human firmness, human persistence and human striving. There will be no relaxing my persistence until I am the first of my generation to attain full awakening in this lifetime. ed. AN 2.5

dhammarelax wrote:
I have tried it and the only relevant result that I got once is that the mind started perceiving a bright white light and it sharpened the awareness quite a bit, it was not effective for me. Bhante Vimalaramsi goes further declaring it to be "wishful thinking". I think that the chances of it leading to jhana are very slim.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

Just because it did not work for you does not mean it does not work. Bhante Vimalaramsi does not have the final say on all matters.

To study is to know the texts,
To practice is to know your defilements,
To attain the goal is to know and let go.

- Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo

With no struggling, no thinking,
the mind, still,
will see cause and effect
vanishing in the Void.
Attached to nothing, letting go:
Know that this is the way
to allay all stress.

dhammarelax wrote:
I have tried it and the only relevant result that I got once is that the mind started perceiving a bright white light and it sharpened the awareness quite a bit, it was not effective for me. Bhante Vimalaramsi goes further declaring it to be "wishful thinking". I think that the chances of it leading to jhana are very slim.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

Just because it did not work for you does not mean it does not work. Bhante Vimalaramsi does not have the final say on all matters.

To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183

dhammarelax wrote:
I have tried it and the only relevant result that I got once is that the mind started perceiving a bright white light and it sharpened the awareness quite a bit, it was not effective for me. Bhante Vimalaramsi goes further declaring it to be "wishful thinking". I think that the chances of it leading to jhana are very slim.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

Considering Vimalaramsi never practiced in that tradition, his declaration shows his small mindedness and ego!

"whatever one frequently thinks and ponders upon will be the inclination of one's mind"

I am sorry to have to bump an old thread, but I have a question regarding Buddho, so I thought I could ask in here.

I am practicing reciting Buddho not only during meditation to still and calm the mind, but also in daily activities, so that the mind stays with what I am doing, just one thing I would like to clarify though, do I focus on the word Buddho? Or the actual activity I am doing while reciting Buddho?

Like for example, in breath, Bud, out breath, Dho, here, do I place my focus on the word Bud...Dho itself? Or do I focus on the in and out breath? Same goes, while doing something, do I focus on the word Buddho, or the act of the chore itself?

I am sorry to ask this, but this got me real confused Any advise for me?

Over the years, I've experimented with using "buddho", "in" and "out", and counting the breaths from "1... 10" as mental repetitions.

What I found is that mentally repeating "buddho" doesn't feel nearly as smooth and comfortable, if you will, as counting "1... 10".

I don't know why that is, perhaps something to do with the tone/pronunciation in the mind. For example, I've even tried "buddha" instead of "buddho", and it's a lot more comfortable for me.

Of course, this is entirely personal, so I believe whatever works for someone else does not necessarily mean it will work best for you.

Eventually, mentally counting "1... 10" works best for me in quieting the mind, until I'm focused on the breath.

Interesting. The word Buddho simply doesn t work for me, but Buddha is pretty much more confortable to repeat. So I use it and the mind becomes calm. Sometimes I keep repeating Buddha to make myself aware that I am unaware.
I tried to count the breaths but it didn t work well. So I use Buddha or just the silent aware of the in and out breath.

I am sorry to have to bump an old thread, but I have a question regarding Buddho, so I thought I could ask in here.

I am practicing reciting Buddho not only during meditation to still and calm the mind, but also in daily activities, so that the mind stays with what I am doing, just one thing I would like to clarify though, do I focus on the word Buddho? Or the actual activity I am doing while reciting Buddho?

Like for example, in breath, Bud, out breath, Dho, here, do I place my focus on the word Bud...Dho itself? Or do I focus on the in and out breath? Same goes, while doing something, do I focus on the word Buddho, or the act of the chore itself?

I am sorry to ask this, but this got me real confused Any advise for me?

I am sorry to have to bump an old thread, but I have a question regarding Buddho, so I thought I could ask in here.

I am practicing reciting Buddho not only during meditation to still and calm the mind, but also in daily activities, so that the mind stays with what I am doing, just one thing I would like to clarify though, do I focus on the word Buddho? Or the actual activity I am doing while reciting Buddho?

Like for example, in breath, Bud, out breath, Dho, here, do I place my focus on the word Bud...Dho itself? Or do I focus on the in and out breath? Same goes, while doing something, do I focus on the word Buddho, or the act of the chore itself?

I am sorry to ask this, but this got me real confused Any advise for me?

I use Buddho sometimes if my mind is particularly unfocused. The issue I have is that the instructions tend to state "repeat untill no longer needed". I will use Buddho until the attention seems fixed on the breath but then when I drop it I go back to square one.

Does anyone with a bit more experience have any suggestions as to whether there are any signalling factors that suggest buddho is no longer needed? Do I just carry on until it fades away on its own or keep dropping it and picking it up until I dont need to pick it up again?

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Laurens wrote:I use Buddho sometimes if my mind is particularly unfocused. The issue I have is that the instructions tend to state "repeat untill no longer needed". I will use Buddho until the attention seems fixed on the breath but then when I drop it I go back to square one.

Does anyone with a bit more experience have any suggestions as to whether there are any signalling factors that suggest buddho is no longer needed? Do I just carry on until it fades away on its own or keep dropping it and picking it up until I dont need to pick it up again?

Hi Laurens,

One of the most descriptive experiences of Buddho meditation can be found in the words of Ajahn Maha Boowa from The Path to Arahantship:

"MY CHOICE WAS BUDDHO MEDITATION. From the moment I made my resolve, I kept my mind from straying from the repetition of buddho. From the moment I awoke in the morning until I slept at night, I forced myself to think only of buddho. At the same time, I ceased to be preoccupied with thoughts of progress and decline: If my meditation made progress, it would do so with buddho; if it declined, it would go down with buddho. In either case, buddho was my sole preoccupation. All other concerns were irrelevant.

Maintaining such single-minded concentration is not an easy task. I had to literally force my mind to remain entwined with buddho each and every moment without interruption. Regardless of whether I was seated in meditation, walking meditation or simply doing my daily chores, the word buddho resonated deeply within my mind at all times. By nature and temperament, I was always extremely resolute and uncompromising. This tendency worked to my advantage. In the end, I became so earnestly committed to the task that nothing could shake my resolve; no errant thought could separate the mind from buddho.

Working at this practice day after day, I always made certain that buddho resonated in close harmony with my present-moment awareness. Soon, I began to see the results of calm and concentration arise clearly within the citta, the mind’s essential knowing nature. At that stage, I began to see the very subtle and refined nature of the citta. The longer I internalized buddho, the more subtle the citta became, until eventually the subtlety of buddho and the subtlety of the citta melded into one another and became one and the same essence of knowing. I could not separate buddho from the citta’s subtle nature. Try as I might, I could not make the word buddho appear in my mind. Through diligence and perseverance, buddho had become so closely unified with the citta that buddho itself no longer appeared within my awareness. The mind had become so calm and still, so profoundly subtle, that nothing, not even buddho, resonated there. This meditative state is analogous to the disappearance of the breath, as mentioned above.

When this took place, I felt bewildered. I had predicated my whole practice on holding steadfastly to buddho. Now that buddho was no longer apparent, where would I focus my attention? Up to this point, buddho had been my mainstay. Now it had disappeared. No matter how hard I tried to recover this focus, it was lost. I was in a quandary. All that remained then was the citta’s profoundly subtle knowing nature, a pure and simple awareness, bright and clear. There was nothing concrete within that awareness to latch on to.

I realized then that nothing invades the mind’s sphere of awareness when consciousness—its knowing presence—reaches such a profound and subtle condition. I was left with only one choice: With the loss of buddho, I had to focus my attention on the essential sense of awareness and knowing that was all-present and prominent at that moment. That consciousness had not disappeared; on the contrary, it was all-pervasive. All of the mindful awareness that had concentrated on the repetition of buddho was then firmly refocused on the very subtle knowing presence of the calm and converged citta. My attention remained firmly fixed on that subtle knowing essence until eventually its prominence began to fade, allowing my normal awareness to become reestablished.

As normal awareness returned, buddho manifested itself once more. So I immediately refocused my attention on the repetition of my meditation-word. Before long, my daily practice assumed a new rhythm: I concentrated intently on buddho until consciousness resolved into the clear, brilliant state of the mind’s essential knowing nature, remaining absorbed in that subtle knowing presence until normal awareness returned; and I then refocused with increased vigor on the repetition of buddho.

It was during this stage that I first gained a solid spiritual foundation in my meditation practice..."

I am interested in Buddho as Vipassana, are there more instructions on how it can be used in this sense?

In the mental recitation method for one-pointedness of the citta notice "who" is reciting "Buddho". One should look at the citta when it is calm. Let mindfulness watch the base and when any sense object arises let the object go and continue watching the citta. - Luang Pu Atulo

Many forest bhikkhus in North-East of Thailand use the word 'Buddho' as their meditation object. They use it as a kind of koan, firstly they calm the mind by following the inhalations and exhalations using the syllables 'Bud-dho' and then begin to contemplate 'What is Buddho, the "one who knows"?' 'What is the knowing?' - Sumedho

In most of the quotes here, it seems like Bud-dho is being used as a basis for samatha, and once it fades away one is in a deep jhana state. However it also seems like Bud-dho can be used for insight practice as per the above quotes.

Vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā — All things decay and disappoint, it is through vigilance that you succeed — Mahāparinibbāna Sutta

Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice. — Diogenes of Sinope

I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind — Ecclesiastes 1.14